Personal Narrative: My First Officer In Charge

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Leadership is defined differently by different people. I like to keep my definition simple; motivate people to work toward a common goal. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege to work for some amazing motivating leaders and mentors. The most memorable trait that comes to mind it those leaders who had the passion to teach. Many also possessed the genuine desire for all involved to succeed. My first Officer in Charge was one of those leaders. It was evident on my first day that the crew was a family and he fostered that vision through his leadership vision. This cutter was in remarkable condition and the crew was well trained. Unfortunately, not all of the leaders that I have encountered in my career were that way. With experiencing …show more content…
My family and close friends are extremely important to me. Trust and loyalty are values that clearly mold my personality, leadership style and response to interaction. I have many acquaintances and friends but a small number of them are what I would consider close friends. The ones that are close friends, trust and loyalty are never in question. This blends well with my career in the Coast Guard. As a chief, it is our job to look after our people and raise concerns up the chain of command. My time spent in command was the most challenging but also the most memorable. In the four years I grew a family and it was my responsibility to take care of them, both personally and professionally. My primary concern was always to keep them …show more content…
There are some areas I need to recognize, reflect, and work on ways to correct. “Paints big picture of what we aspire to accomplish” (Kouzes & Posner, 2017) is one of these areas. We talk about buy in often, especially with the newer generations. This is something that I thought I did well but the feedback lets me know I have room to improve. So, how to accomplish this? Do a better job explaining to the crew not only what we need to do; but the reason why. The members at the deck plate level do not always get all the information. As the leader, we must strive to keep the lines of communication flowing up and down. An annual climate survey at a previous unit revealed lack of communication was a theme. We immediately attempted to correct this by holding more all hands, getting the immediate supervisors more involved, and instituting a written plan of the week.
Similar to the above, another opportunity for improvement is “involves people in the decisions that directly impact job performance” (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). It is not enough to simply pass information, we must enable and encourage two-way conversations with our people. Stepping away from the office environment and walking around talking to your crew will lead to a wealth of knowledge. We have positional power by the nature of our paygrade, but I would rather work toward personal